Ever since Townsend Harris established The Free Academy, the precursor to The City College of New York, in 1847, access to affordable public higher education has been a pathway to upward mobility for millions of Americans. I happen to be one of them.

Two things terrified Peter Hamilton as a child: a disaster overcoming his family, and polio. Remnants of that fear and the relief at being vaccinated triggered an emotional connection when he saw an early version of the film about scientist Jonas Salk's struggle to find a vaccine to stop polio in the 1950s.

One has only to visit Nigeria or India or Pakistan for a few hours to catch a glimpse of beggars who creep along the dirt roads of villages or the filthy asphalt streets of the cities, crawling on their elbows and dragging legs paralyzed due to polio.

When we talk about budget cuts as a solution to our economic woes, let's remember who will get left behind -- the next Jonas Salk, the next child who might someday cure cancer, the next great mind to solve our energy needs or feed the world.

The fact that the medical industrial complex suppressed the cure for stomach ulcers for nearly 15 years raises crucial questions about trusting a system which demonstrably favors corporate profits over patient health.